Why I Might Like to Move to the Sahara - Turn it Green!

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I detest Summer.

With a passion.

Summer in 'this' place (not the Sahara) is frankly too much for me,

I often quip that I "die" in June and revive in November.

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I love grey skies and regular rain showers sounds good to me.

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So why on Earth might I be inclined to move to the Sahara desert?!

The Potential is Great

When I look at the World map I see a planet where humanity has grown to become a scourge on account of our sheer ever-insanely-increasing numbers as well as our backwardness in-so-far as empathy and connectivity between ourselves and with the planet is concerned.

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When I look at the Sahara I see a landscape so harsh that relatively few humans call it their home. Its territories "claimed" but never positively contributed to. In fairness, who would 'I' be to lay a claim to such? Nobody at all.

While I may not have a right to touch the great barrens I do so anyway, in my mind's eye. I desire to see the barren sands turned into rich forests and green-lands.

I wouldn't be the first. There have been proposals made in the past to channel sea water into a below-sea-level section of desert known as the Qattara depression - which as far back as 1912 had been proposed to be connected to the Mediterranean Sea.

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Critics had lambasted that idea however, claiming that channeling sea water through that kind of climate would result in a great loss of vapor due to evaporation - leaving behind the salt and very possibly having the highly salty water seep into and poison the groundwater.

The Maltese Islands have a solution to that problem however.

It is called desalination - and this process is increasingly popular (and necessary due to population demands ever growing along with population numbers...).

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Through channeling potable water, probably deep into Algeria (as its about as good a place as any to start), down a progressively extending network, that which would begin as Savannah would enrich into greener grazing lands and progressively into budding woodlands. With every progressive generation of dead vegetation and animal-borne fertilizer would come a transformation of sand to soil, and the increasingly resilient root structure and overhead foliage would help to keep the soil in place. The march of the desert in that area would be stalled - pending further expansion.

To help ensure energy-sufficiency, the climate would be taken advantage of in the form of photo-voltaic panels and steam boilers - utilizing the sun to generate the lion's share of the energy requirements of the desalination process - later expanding to providing surplus power generation to the locales.

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A Meaningful Impact

The overall impact of any such successful project is an expected increase in humidity in the vicinity, also a feeding of moisture into weather systems. Rain and storm systems may intensify a little as a result. On the other hand trees have been known to reduce the strength of tornadoes.

Less perceptible would be an overall cooling effect upon the planet. Slight but sure to begin with.

That which proves to work in Algeria could hence be tried in other locations. Libya, Egypt, Mauritania and Sudan come to mind - with definite ambitions to delve beyond the "easy"nations with a coast, deeper into the heart of Africa.

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This is one reason why I'd like to move to the Sahara. I severely doubt that a meaningful opportunity for such shall arise in the future - but I'll keep an open mind.

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If you found this post interesting and would like to share this with your friends then a resteem couldn't hurt.

If you 'didn't' like this then feel free to share your views in comments. A civil conversation can go a long way.

Sincerely,

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